A system and method for processing the output of a fiber-optic gyroscope. The inventive circuit (10) includes a photodetector (24) for detecting electromagnetic energy received from the fiber-optic gyroscope (18,20) and providing an analog input signal in response thereto. An analog-to-digital converter (42) is provided for processing the analog input signal and providing a digital signal in response thereto. A source (30) is provided for injecting a dither signal between the photodetector (24) and the analog-to-digital converter (42). In the illustrative embodiment, the source (30) supplies a triangle wave signal. The output of the photodetector (24) is supplied to the summing input of a differential amplifier (29) and the output of the source (30) supplies the differencing input to the differential amplifier (29). The output of the analog-to-digital converter (42) is provided to a digital signal processor (44) as per usual practice.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for processing the output of a fiber-optic gyroscope to remove the effects of vibration therefrom including the steps of: detecting electromagnetic energy received from said fiber-optic gyroscope and providing an analog input signal in response thereto; injecting a dither signal into said input signal; and converting said input signal into a digital signal with an analog to digital converter, said a dither signal having an amplitude of several least significant bits peak to peak relative to said analog to digital converter.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
March 1, 2000
October 22, 2002
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.